The present invention relates generally to robotic surgery techniques, and more particularly to configurations which may be utilized to efficiently facilitate intraoperative imaging by fluoroscopy during surgical procedures such as joint resurfacing or replacement.
With continued surgery-related diagnostic and treatment specialization, and increases in the costs associated with maintaining and staffing operating room space, there is a continued need for capital equipment technologies and configurations that facilitate flexibility and efficiency. For example, radiography and fluoroscopy systems for providing intraoperative images during procedures such as orthopedic surgery conventionally have included relatively large and unwieldly hardware configurations, such as the conventional fluoroscopy C-arm system 2 depicted in FIG. 1A, generally including a source 6 and a detector 8 fixedly coupled by a C-arm connecting structure 4, and the conventional flat-panel radiography system 10 depicted in FIG. 1B which is partially ceiling-mounted and partially floor mounted. Operation of these systems generally requires moving one or more moveable portions into a position and/or orientation relative to one or more subject tissue structures of a patient, and often repositioning and/or reorienting to capture additional images from another viewpoint relative to the tissue structures. For example, in the case of many joint arthroplasty related procedures, it will be of interest for the surgeon to gather both antero/posterior and lateral views of the particular skeletal joint of interest, and gathering both views will require movements, either manually or electromechanically induced, of the various portions of imaging hardware. Further, it is sometimes the case that the anatomy of interest of the patient will move during the procedure, potentially requiring re-alignment of the imaging hardware to procure additional intraoperative views. In addition, with the onset of robotic interventional systems and tools, such as system 12 depicted in FIG. 2 and sold under the tradename RIO® by MAKO Surgical Corporation of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (including a mobile base 14 and an instrument 18, such as a bone cutting instrument, coupled to the mobile base 14 by an articulated robotic arm 16), workflow can be interrupted by trading an interventional system and an imaging system in and out of the space most adjacent the patient tissue structures of interest during the procedure, which may require re-registration of the interventional and/or imaging systems each time relative to the patient anatomy.